It will fulfill its promise to NATO’s Rapid Reaction Force with ‘Marder’ tanks
Germany has suspended the purchase of the modern and innovative domestically produced ‘Puma’ main battle tanks due to serious technical problems. A day after a senior official denounced that all 18 ‘Puma’ tanks belonging to the German unit due to join NATO’s immediate reaction force on January 1 have been damaged, Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht announced that no purchases would be made. will be more of this model. “Until the vehicle proves to be stable, no further orders will come,” said the Social Democratic politician, who stressed that “our troops must be able to rely on their weapons systems being robust and safe in combat.”
“The latest failures of the ‘Puma’ main battle tank represent a serious setback,” said the defense minister, who reported that he had ordered “an analysis of the problem by the appropriate departments of the ministry and the military until the end of next week.” federal army. the maintenance and industry logistics department”. The tank of the latest generation apparently poses problems in the operation of the turret and the complex electronic system. Meanwhile, the ministry made sure that NATO “can be sure of fulfilling our obligations” with the immediate intervention force VJTF, whose leadership Germany assumes in early 2023.
The ‘Puma’ battle tanks that would join this international troop will be replaced by tanks of the ‘Marder’ type, an earlier model, but proven and reliable. The general in charge of the 10th tank division of the Bundeswehr, the federal army, had denounced that his elite company’s 18 modern ‘Puma’ battle tanks had all been damaged after several days of maneuvering. They fell out one by one until none were operational, Major General Rupert von Butler reported in a several-page letter to his superiors at the Federal Ministry of Defense to which “Der Spiegel” had access and which caused a great deal of commotion in Berlin. by confirming the poor state of German military equipment.
The unit affected is the 37th Tank Brigade, which is due to join NATO’s new rapid reaction force, the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF), in 2023. The general emphasizes that these are total failures and writes in his message that the last two operational ‘Pumas’ after an hour and a half ‘failed during firing maneuvers and with defects in the gun turrets’. The senior officer’s report highlights that it is the state-of-the-art tank electronics that are causing the biggest problems and underlines that there was a cable fire in the driver’s cab in one of the damaged tanks. He adds that the troops are used to failures in the new ‘Pumas’, but that “these have not been very common until now”.
The modern and innovative main battle tank ‘Puma’ was declared fit for combat last year. Developed and produced by the German arms industries Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) and Rheinmetall Landsysteme GmbH, it has brought nothing but problems since joining the military. “You can imagine how the troops appreciate the reliability of the ‘Puma'”, emphasizes the misfortune general himself in his message, which confirms that “despite the meticulous preparations, the operational set-up of the vehicle is a lottery” and “it has nothing to do with the usual reliability of German off-road vehicles.” Rupert von Butler even questions the agreed purchase of new units of the ‘Puma’ tank, as “the results fall far short of expectations” and advises resorting to the “veteran and reliable” tank “Marder” for now, being taken out of service.
Source: La Verdad
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